Examples of Recent Accomplishments:

Established and nurtured by conservation crisis and need, the National Wildlife Refuge System mission is to provide, manage and safeguard a national network of lands and waters sufficient in size, diversity and location to meet people's need for areas where the entire spectrum of human benefits associated with migratory birds, all other wild creatures and wildlands are enhanced and made available.

Waterfowl use of the National Wildlife Refuge System. About 250 of the refuges and all waterfowl production areas were established primarily as migratory waterfowl habitat. During calendar year 1968 they accommodated about 1.5 billion waterfowluse-davs. (A use-day represents the use of a refuge for one dav by one swan, goose, duck, or coot.) Also, breeding waterfowl on these areas produced an estimated 1,000,000 young birds.

Endangered species. Twenty-one wildlife forms listed in the Federal Register as threatened with extinction are found on refuges. The number of whooping cranes returning to the Aransas Refuge, Texas, during the winter of 1969-7) was an alltime high, 55 birds. The Federal Government began protecting the whoopers, North America's tallest birds, at Aransas when the refuge was opened in 1937. The first accurate census, taken in 1941, revealed only 15 of these majestic cranes on the grounds, but since then the population has been steadily increasing. It exceeded 30 in 1947, topped 40 in 1964 and reached 50 last year.

Refuge management studies. Refuges are valuable for evaluation of wildlife management practices to determine the best ways to apply research findings to future field operations. An up-dated summary ending in 1969, lists 137 studies designed to produce wildlife and habitat benefits. College students carried out 54 of these studies. Their efforts not only produced the required thesis for advanced degrees, but also provided management information on waterfowl, sandhill cranes, big game, small mammals, reptiles, insects, public use programs, and marsh, estuarine, grassland, and timberland ecology.

Refuge publications. Nearly 165 visitor leaflets describing individual refuges are now available, describing the refuge and what visitors may see and do on it. Bird lists are available for 140 refuges, and mammal lists for 30, telling visitors what birds and mammals they can expect to see at any given time of the year.

Recreation on refuges. Recreational visits to the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1968 reached 16 million--.4 million more than 1967, a 2 percent increase. Preliminary estimates for 1969 indicate that the 17 million mark may be reached for the first time in historv. Public use of refuges is recorded on computers providing a monthly printout of recreational use, which allows for more accurate and prompt analysis of program needs. In rounded figures, the following table shows a breakdown of the types of public use:

This

Managed hunts account for an additional 500,000 visitor days annually. involves upland and big game and migratory waterfowl hunting. Deer hunting is a favorite sport in forested areas, while waterfowl hunters seek the marshes.

Refuge products and income. The carefully planned management of refuge lands not only provides nesting and feeding areas for waterfowl and other wildlife, and recreation for millions of visitors annually, but it provides monetary returns to both the neighboring communities and to the Government. Through the application of sound conservation measures on refuge lands, crop, forage, and timber production has increased and in some cases has more than doubled. This has benefited wildlife and the national investment. Economic use of the Refuge System in FY 1969 was:

In addition to the above economic and material benefits to the Government, there is direct benefit to wildlife from the farming of 44,036 acres by refuge personnel.

Wilderness studies. Through calendar year 1969, reviews were completed on about 1,191,500 acres within 38 national wildlife refuges. About 583,500 acres within 35 wilderness proposals were determined to meet the criteria set forth in the Wilderness Act as being suitable for further consideration as wilderness. A total of 29 wilderness proposals have been submitted to the President and subsequently transmitted to the Congress. One of these, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness, containing 3,750 acres within Great Swamp Refuge, New Jersey was established by Public Law 90-953 on September 28, 1968. Seven additional wilderness proposals are undergoing Departmental review.

In FY 1970, studies on nine additional refuge areas encompassing about 500,000 acres are scheduled for completion. Public hearings relative to the suitability or non-suitability as wilderness of these areas will be held and reviews completed in calendar year 1970.